The Bucket List

The Bucket List is a story about two men who meet in a hospital room. Carter (Morgan Freeman) and Edward (Jack Nicholson) play off each other very well in this movie. Two of the greatest actors in one movie.

Carter and Edward have something in common, Cancer. Carter is a father of three, married, and has been working as a mechanic for most of his life. Edward on the other hand is single, owns a large company that privatizes hospitals, and has more money than he will ever be able to spend.

While the two men are going through treatment they become friends. On morning Edward stumbles on a crumpled piece of paper on the floor near Carters bed. What he finds is Carter's bucket list, which is all the things he wants to do before he kicks the bucket.

Both men are not winning their battle against cancer, so Edward convinces Carter to actually travel the world and cross items off the list. This movie will tug on your heart strings.

The movie is largely based around Freeman's and Nicholson's characters, with a quirky assistant to Nicholson's character played by Sean Hayes of 'Will and Grace' fame. Overall the movie is just great. Two great actors sharing the screen and not trying to out act the other makes for a great film.

The movie, even though listed as a comedy, really does give some important messages.

Favourite line: "Here's something to remember when you're older Thomas - never pass up a bathroom, never waste a hard-on, and never trust a fart."

Why should you see this movie? Two legendary actors, great story, great locations, and I did shed a single tear at the end.

The Last King of Scotland

One of the best movies I have seen. It stars Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy. The story is centred around the relationship of Amin (Whitaker) and Dr. Garrigan (McAvoy).
Garrigan is fresh out of medical school and decides he wants to get away from home and runs off to Uganda, Africa. He works with a small mission until one day he meets Idi Amin.

Amin is the charismatic leader of Uganda, and appoints Garrigan as his personal physician and considers him his closest advisor(sometimes).

Things go bad, real bad. (there are quick scenes of extreme gore)

This film really shows Whitaker's ability as an actor. Throughout the film he must change emotions at the drop of a hat. Whitaker didn't win an Oscar for this role for nothing.

The storyline is great with very few holes and easy to follow. The visuals are outstanding. And the supporting cast are all great.

Why should you see this movie?
Because Forest Whitaker is the fucking man(and it won 34 awards and 21 nominations)

The Wrestler

I will preface everything with this: You will either love this movie or hate it. The movie is NOT about pro wrestling.

The movie is about Randy "Ram" Robinson, played by Mickey Rourke. This is was Rourke's best performance yet, even beating out his character Marv in Sin City. He completely embodied the character.

Now, I said this movie is not about pro wrestling, which is about 90% true. Ram Robinson used to be at the top of pro wrestling in his time but is now relegated down to the less than reputable semi-pro circuit. He plays high school gyms and small even centers for very little money. He is beaten up, bruised, and just generally on the down and out.

The story takes a turn for the worst when he has a heart attack after a match. This is really where the movie and main story begins. With his brush with death he attempts to rekindle his relationship with his estranged daughter. There is also a romantic interest in the movie played by Marisa Tomei. And for the guys out there, she is a stripper, and yep there are a few topless scenes with her (her character has nipple piercings, A+ Marisa).

Like I said earlier, this was Mickey Rourke's best performance. He really took the character to another level and really makes you feel that his character was a real person. He had to do a lot of training for this role, and he isn't a young guy anymore, but everything he did was believable.
The other cast did a great job as well, but this movie really is about Rourke's character and he is mainly what you are seeing.

With this movie, whether you like pro wrestling or not, you will feel like you are an invisible person following these characters around due to the way the movie was filmed. A lot of steady cam work, which actually adds an interesting point of view throughout the entire movie.

Again, you will either love it or hate it, but don't let the fact that this movie's main character is a pro wrestler deter you from seeing it.

Why should you see this movie?
Great story, great character, all around great movie.
Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 30 wins & 18 nominations

Man On Fire

OK....This is one of my all-time favorite movies. As said in my entry about The Count of Monte Cristo, I am a sucker for revenge flicks. This is the ultimate.

It is about John Creasy, who was possibly an ex-assassin, spy, or something else, it is never really talked about. All we know is that he used to kill, and what he has done has haunted him every day. In a spur of the moment decision he goes to visit a buddy from his black-op days in Mexico. His friend (Rayburn, played by Christopher Walken), gets him a job as a body guard for a young girl (played by Dakota Fanning). The girl gets kidnapped and Creasy goes on a vendetta to find out who was responsible.

At first glance it seems like this movie is just another action, save the captive, thriller. But it is not. The movie does start out slow by action movie standards, but it does pick up, and it picks up fast.
The cinematography in this movie is truly special. It is something that has been emulated since the film came out. The music throughout the movie is also very good (even though one of the tracks was used in Gladiator).

Overall, this is a kick ass movie. He really gets the bad guys in interesting ways. But besides the all the ass kicking, there is alot of character growth through this movie. You get to witness the change in Creasy. This level of character development doesn't really exist in normal movies anymore.

Why should you see this movie?
1 line: "A man can be an artist in anything,painting, food, whatever. It depends on how good he is at it. Creasey's art is death. He's about to paint his masterpiece."

And its true, his vendetta against the bad guys is epic.

The Count of Monte Cristo

This movie is one of my favorites. I am a sucker for both jailbreak movies and revenge movies. This one has them both.

It is about Edmund Dantes. He is a simple sailor and friend to the son of a count (Fernand Mondego) . He is betrayed by his friends after a chance encounter with Napoleon. After being labelled a traitor and sent to the prison Chateau D'If. While imprissoned he meets and old priest. Priest is an educated man and ex-solider from Napoleon's army. Skilled in combat as well as a vast amount of knowledge, he teaches Dantes and begins training him. In between the school like lectures and combat training, Dantes and Priest are digging an underground tunnel to escape. The story of his revenge starts there.

Like i said before, I love jailbreak movies and revenge movies. On the side of revenge, it doesn't get more elaborate than this. Although the movie isn't identical to the book by Dumas, it is still a good stand alone movie. The costumes and sets are great. Definitely a quality "period" film. The acting is decent throughout most of the film.

Why should you see this movie? Why the hell not....